Chasing Memories
by Blizzard96
Summary: Jack's still having fun guarding the children of the world after defeating Pitch, but suddenly a new problem has arisen. A couple of ex-Guardians have stolen some of Tooth's memories and it's up to Jack and the other Guardians to get them back. So who are these ex-Guardians and why on earth do they want these memories so badly?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians or any characters from it.**

Chapter 1: We have a problem

It was the middle of October, and Jack loved this time of year. Though he couldn't let everything be blanketed in snow yet, he still amused himself by riding the winds and watching as people hugged their jackets closer for warmth or their papers went flying through the air. Jack laughed as they chased the papers in vain as his winds floated them just out of reach. He zoomed through the streets of a small town in America, watching the locals busily prepare for Halloween. Decorations were in every store window and costume shops were bustling.

Jack was about to call it a day there and head for some other place to have fun when, out of nowhere, he crashed into something and fell to the ground. 'Why didn't I go through it?' he wondered as he sat up and reached for his staff; he had lost his grip on it when he crashed. Once he had managed to locat the frozen staff, he looked up to see what he crashed into and found it was a human.

The human sat up and groaned after being knocked to the ground. When Jack looked at him, he could see that the other person was about 16 and was wearing a black shirt with a skull, black jeans, black Vans and an army green jacket; from what Jack could tell, the teen was also African American. But the weirdest part was, Jack couldn't see the other's face as he was wearing a mask in the shape of a pumpkin. It was one of those cheap masks anyone could get for 50 cents at a Halloween shop; the kind where it just covers the face and there's a thin, easily breakable string that "secures" it to the head. In the mask, there were only holes for the eyes and mouth.

"Watch where you're going," the other person muttered before getting up. He looked down at Jack, rolled his eyes and offered his hand to the white haired ice spirit.

'He can see me…' Jack thought with wonder, automatically accepting the other boy's help and hoisting himself up. The other teen looked him up and down critically.

"It's the middle of October, man. You gonna freeze without shoes," The African American teen said, staring at Jack's choice of clothing.

Jack was still nonplussed. "You can see me, right?" he managed to say.

If it hadn't been for the pumpkin mask, Jack felt he would've been on the receiving end of the world's largest facepalm. "Yeah, bro. I can see you," the other kid said, his voice muffled by the mask's cheap plastic. "Now anyways, you need some shoes?"

Jack shook his head. "I'm fine with the cold," he replied.

The masked teen seemed to consider whether or not he should just drag Jack to a store to buy proper footwear, but decided against it and shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat, man. Anyways, name's Hal. What's yours?" he questioned.

Jack debated whether or not to tell the truth. 'Well it's not like he'll believe me anyways if I say I'm an immortal ice spirit and a Guardian,' Jack mentally reasoned.

"My name's Jack Frost," Jack replied out loud.

"Hm… Frost," Hal said, considering while Jack wondered what was so special about it. "That's a cool last name. I got a crappy last name. It's just 'Owen'. Isn't that stupid?..." the teen continued to rant for a while and Jack discovered that the other was quite touchy about his last name.

Hal finally stopped ranting about how boring his last name was when his cellphone beeped. He pulled it out of his pocket and groaned. "I have to go, man. It was nice meeting you Jack Frost." Hal started walking away, yelling rather loudly at whoever was talking to him on the phone.

Jack stayed rooted to the spot, a little fascinated that he actually met someone who could see him. "Wait," Jack said to himself. "I don't even know what he looks like…" he groaned. He would probably never see the kid again, and if he did, he wouldn't know his face because of that stupid pumpkin mask. "Just my luck," he muttered. "One of the few people in the world that can see me and I have no idea what he looks like."

Jack was snapped out of his thoughts by a sudden flash of lights in the sky. The beautiful red and green lights seemed like a simple display of natural phenomena, but Jack knew that it was really a Guardian signal for trouble. He summoned his winds to carry him to North's workshop.

~~~~~At the Workshop~~~~~

Despite the fact that it was an emergency, Jack couldn't help but admire all the toys that zoomed around the room in preparation for a Christmas that was 2 months away. Brightly colored, jellyfish shaped robots floated up through the air while Jack had to step over train tracks that crisscrossed the floor. Not even Phil giving him the evil eye could dampen his amazement.

He finally made his way to the control panel in front of the globe where all the other Guardians were waiting. He waved to the Sandman who responded with a sandy hand popping up next to his head and waving back.

"'Bout time you got here, mate," the Easter Bunny glowered down at the ice spirit.

"Now, now bunny," North began with his strong Russian accent. "He is here now and that is all that matters."

"Why AM I here?" Jack asked.

"We'll let Tooth explain," North replied.

The feathery green fairy fluttered forward. (A/N: Yay for alliterations!) "We've had trouble at the tooth palace. Some of my memories have been stolen," she said sadly, not her usual self.

"Is it Pitch again?" Jack asked angrily, his grip on the staff tightening at the memory of the evil being known as Pitch Black.

"No, no," Tooth immediately replied. "Only two containers of memories have been stolen. The only problem is…" she trailed off, muttering something under her breath.

"The problem is?" Jack asked, confused.

"Our problem is those memories belonged to two beings who are now ex-Guardians," Bunnymund stated while twirling his boomerang.

"Ex-Guardians?" Jack asked. "I thought this Guardian business was for life."

"It usually is," North replied. "But they decided to abandon their posts, and therefore the children. We blotted their names from the Guardian records, but they are still immortal and wield the types of powers you did before becoming a Guardian."

"So how are we supposed to track them down?" Jack asked Tooth.

"I can locate where the memories are," Tooth replied. "It's an extra precaution I took after Pitch stole all of them. It's kind of like a tracking device in each container."

"Stupid ex-Guardians too," Bunnymund stated. "They were always slackers and they only had to work one night a year. You don't see me slacking around Easter."

"Shocking," Jack muttered under his breath.

"What was that, Frost?!"

"Nothing, you stupid kangaroo."

"Kangaroo?!" Bunnymund roared.

"Boys, please! You're both pretty!" Tooth interrupted their argument and left them spluttering indignantly and pointing at each other. "Now back to the business at hand?" She asked in that tone of voice that said, 'If you don't stop I will punch you into next week'. They fidgeted and came to an uneasy truce.

Sandy started signaling to everyone to try and get to their attention before a sandy image of a pumpkin and a jester's cap appeared above his head.

"Thank you Sandy, I almost forgot," Tooth said. She turned back to Jack. "You wouldn't know which Guardians we're talking about. They were the spirit of Halloween and the April Fool. We have no idea what happened to them after they left their post. Do we have any pictures of them we can show Jack?"

North shook his head. "We destroyed everything we had of them when they left their post."

Suddenly, a beam of moonlight shot through the window and illuminated the Guardian seal in the floor. The floor opened up and a huge, glowing blue crystal rose out of it. The first image in the crystal was of a person in medieval jester's uniform, complete with scepter. The person grinned in a sort of maniacal way, but it wasn't overly offputting.

The image swirled until another figure was apparent in the glass. Jack's eyes widened as he stared intently at the image. It seemed like it, but it couldn't be…

"I know this kid!" Jack exclaimed trying to make sure he was right. It HAD to be the teen he'd crashed into earlier that day.

Tooth looked startled. "You met the spirit of Halloween?"

Bunnymund pushed past her and got in Jack's face. "You met him and DIDN'T CATCH HIM?!"

North picked up the Easter Bunny by the back of his neck and set him down a few feet away from Jack. "Come now, old friend. Jack didn't know earlier!"

"How could he not know?!" Bunnymund protested.

"All he told me was his name!" Jack defended himself. "He looks like a normal teenager!"

"Wait," Bunnymund said. "He told you his full name AND YOU STILL DIDN'T GET IT?!"

"Alright! Enough!" Tooth yelled, while Sandy nodded in the background. "It's not Jack's fault that he didn't know. Now we have to track down those memories…" Tooth trailed off and muttered to herself and her fairies, trying to locate the containers.

"And what do you mean I should've known just because he told me his name?" Jack questioned the Easter Bunny.

The Easter Bunny massaged his temples to ward off an impending headache. "Mate, have you said his name out loud?"

"Um, his name was Hal?" Jack responded, trying to remember what the African American teen had said.

"His full name, mate."

"Er, Hal…" Jack started drawing a blank for the last name. 'What was it again? I should remember this… he ranted about it for 5 minutes straight… It started with an O… That's it!'

"Owen?" he said in a questioning tone.

"Now say the full name," the Easter Bunny growled, his patience waning.

"Hal Owen. Hal Owen. Wait. Crap," Bunnymund nodded while Jack felt so stupid he wanted to kick himself. "I get it. Hal Owen. Halloween."

**A/N: Ta da~! A Rise of the Guardians fanfic I pulled out of nowhere... Yes. When you have three unfinished fanfics and exams, the correct response is to start another fanfic. Studying? What studying? Hahaha...**

**So yeah, there are OCs (Halloween and the April Fool) but I'll try not to make them too annoying. Well I guess the April Fool will be annoying since he IS the April Fool... Hm... Still haven't quite gotten his character worked out. On the other hand, I do already have Hal's past worked out. Gosh I'm excited to write for him.**

**Anyways, PLEASE REVIEW! I really want to know what you guys think of the story and the characters! Tell me if you like it/hate it/ have ideas. Constructive criticism is always appreciated, but no outright flaming please! Thanks! :D**


	2. Chapter 2: Center?

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians.**

Chapter 2: Center?

~~~~~Flashback~~~~~

_"To apprehend the ex-Guardians, we'll have to split up," Tooth announced to her friends. "North, Sandy and I will look for the April fool while Jack and Bunnymund catch Hal."_

_"Wait, why do I have to work with the stupid rabbit?" Jack protested._

_"If anyone should be complaining about partners, it's me!" Bunnymund yelled._

_"Boys!" Tooth screamed, stopping Jack and the Easter bunny from engaging in another fight. "Look, the reason us three are together is because the April fool is much stronger than Hal, and you don't even know what you're up against. Therefore, more people should be chasing down the April fool, but we can't just ignore the spirit of Halloween either."_

_"Fine," Jack pouted and crossed his arms. "Whatever."_

_Tooth rolled her eyes and turned to face the Easter bunny. "According to the tracking device, Hal is somewhere in America. Since we're currently at the North Pole, I don't have a very strong signal to track him. Once you get to America, you should have an exact location." She tossed the rabbit a device that started beeping._

_"Alright." The bunny turned to Jack. "Come on, you bloody ice freak."_

_"Oh that was mature," Jack said sarcastically while the bunny suppressed the urge to throw his boomerang right into the ice sprit's face._

_"Good luck you two!" Tooth called, waving as the duo disappeared down Bunnymund's tunnels. North laid a hand on her shoulder._

_"They'll be fine," he said, a huge smile on his face._

_"I know…" Tooth replied. "They'll succeed if they manage to not kill each other first."_

~~~~~Flashback over~~~~~

"Out of all the Guardians…" Bunnymund muttered, growing more irritated as he watched Jack do somersaults in the air and cause someone to slip on a patch of ice.

"Oh, lighten up!" Jack said. "We've been searching for hours and we still haven't found any trace of this guy. Why not have some fun?"

The Easter bunny just rolled his eyes as he sat down on the ground and fiddled with the device. "Must be busted," he said, shaking it to see if it was working properly.

"Hey!" Jack yelled, getting the bunny's attention. "Watch this!" Jack buzzed directly overhead of a mother and father with their two children. The family immediately pulled their coats tighter to their bodies.

"Mom!" the girl complained. "It's cold!"

"We'll be home in a few minutes, sweetie," her mother replied. The girl shivered and then glanced directly at Bunnymund.

"Bunny!" she yelled, pointing directly at Bunnymund who gave her a half wave. The girl's brother turned to where she was pointing.

"Mom, Dad! Look at the big bunny!"

"What are you talking about sweethearts, there's nothing there," the mother said, looking at where Bunnymund sat.

"But-!" the little girl protested.

"No buts," their father said sternly. "You both must be very tired if you're seeing giant rabbits."

"It's really there!"

"You shouldn't lie, sweetie." The girl continued to protest, as did her brother, but soon the family moved out of the Guardians' earshot.

"Hm…" Jack said.

"What do you mean, 'Hm'?"

"It's just interesting to know that even you can't be seen by some people."

"Well that's how it works with all of us. Most of the ankle-biters can see the Guardians, but the adults…" he trailed off absentmindedly, hitting random buttons on the device before flinging it to the ground. "It's bloody broken! It keeps saying that Hal should be right next to us, but we haven't seen him this entire time!"

Jack picked up the device to examine it before seeing that the rabbit was right. He rolled his eyes and batted the tracker into a tree with his staff. "Home run!" he yelled triumphantly.

"What the-?!" a startled voice yelled from the branches. Jack and Bunnymund had the time to look shocked before a teenager fell out of the tree to crash gracelessly to the ground.

"Ow…" the teenager groaned, rubbing the back of his head.

"Hal?" Jack asked, approaching the figure. The teen was certainly wearing the clothes he had last seen Hal in, but instead of the pumpkin mask, the kid was wearing a hockey mask with some very suspicious stains.

"Speaking," the kid said, sounding irritated.

"Uh… your mask," Jack began.

"You haven't gotten it yet? I'm the spirit of Halloween, so changing my costume is a fairly regular occurrence."

Bunnymund snapped out of his shocked state to pick Hal up by the collar and slam him against the tree trunk, causing the kid to grunt in surprise. "You little twerp, where are the memories?" he growled.

"Woah, woah, woah," Hal said, holding up his hands. "You said 'memories', plural. I only have one tube of memories." He lifted his foot to kick Bunnymund with enough force that he was released, but not so much that he actually did any damage.

"Whatever," Bunnymund said, regaining his footing. "Just give them back and we'll be gone. You can go back to… scaring people, or whatever it is you do." Though his face wasn't clear because of the hockey mask, Jack was fairly certain Hal was giving Bunnymund an eye roll of epic proportions.

Hal ignored the rabbit, causing Bunnymund to splutter indignantly, and turned to face Jack. "I haven't seen you working with these people before. I thought you were a regular kid when we bumped into each other. Who are you really?"

Jack lifted his chin to try and appear more in control of the situation. "Like I said earlier, my name is Jack Frost. I control winter weather."

"No, no," Hal said with a wave of his hand. "I already got that. I mean really, what do you guard in kids?"

"Fun," Jack said, a note of pride in his voice. "I guard the happiness of children."

"I see," Hal said. The teenager then turned to face the Easter bunny whose hands were slowly inching towards his boomerangs. "Did the other Guardians mention what I guarded when I was one of you?"

Jack tilted his head in confusion. 'I guess he did have to guard something…' he thought. 'But what would a Halloween spirit, whose purpose is to scare people, guard in children?' Jack shook his head to indicate to Hal he was clueless.

"I thought so," Hal stated, continuing to glare at the rabbit while continuing his conversation with Jack. "I guarded imagination. Children's creativity. On Halloween, for at least one night, kids were allowed to be whoever they wanted. They were astronauts, dragons, princesses, monsters; anything they could imagine! That was what I guarded. A child's ability to create a fantasy from thin air."

"This is all very fascinating," Bunnymund growled, out of patience. "But you really should hand over the memories before things get ugly."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Hal stated. "These are my memories and I believe that no one else has the right to view them at their leisure. After all, I should get to decide who controls my past, right?"

Jack was suddenly on the attack mode. Hal's demeanor had shifted and now the Halloween spirit looked downright dangerous. Bunnymund caught Jack's eye and motioned him over before hurling his boomerang at the backpack slung on Hal's shoulder. The strap broke and its contents were spilled on the ground. Jack had enough time to observe that it was full of sketchbooks and pencils.

"Whatever you do," the rabbit yelled. "Don't let him get ahold of any-" he was cut off when Hal reached to the ground to grab one of the sketch books faster than Jack could use his staff and rolled out of the way to dodge Jack's icy attack. "-drawing materials," Bunnymund finished. "Bloody hell…" the rabbit muttered, alarming Jack. Could the Halloween spirit be so powerful that even the rabbit was scared?

"That was my only bag, man!" Hal complained as he opened the sketch book to a fresh page. "What am I going to do now?" Then, with inhuman speed, Hal sketched a quick drawing in the book before holding it up for the Guardians to see. "Well?" he asked. "Pretty awesome, right?"

Jack was confused as to why Hal had just drawn a rather realistic dragon instead of attacking, but he saw Bunnymund stiffen out of the corner of his eye. The rabbit grabbed Jack's shoulder. "Run, mate!" he yelled as an unearthly roar split the air.

The ice spirit covered his ears, still ringing from the sudden noise and glanced up to see a huge black dragon. It snorted and blew a huge column of fire at Jack who managed to dodge it just in time. Bunnymund was attempting to hit its eyes with his boomerangs with limited success.

"What the heck is that thing?!" Jack yelled to the rabbit as he shot beams of ice at the dragon, which proceeded to shake it off and swipe at Jack with its talons. Jack hissed in pain as they grazed his leg.

"It's his ability!" Bunnymund yelled back, barely managing to dodge the flames with the help of his tunnels. "He can make any of his drawings reality!"

"Well, it's a really huge pain in the a-!" Jack was cut off as a foot planted itself in his back and shoved him forward. He fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of him.

"Alright." Jack heard Hal's voice say. "That's enough." Suddenly, the sound of the roaring dragon was gone and Jack looked up to see it was as if the beast had vanished into thin air. About 20 yards away, Bunnymund lay in a similar state. Not extremely hurt, but obviously in no condition to get up and continue fighting anytime soon. Hal stood right next to Jack and glanced down at him looking…disappointed?

"Well," Hal said, voice muffled by the mask. "I had hoped that you two would last a little longer, but I see I was mistaken." The African American teenager shook his head. However, he seemed to perk up at a sudden thought. "I know!" he pointed at Jack and Bunnymund. "Y'all should visit my realm sometime. We can have a better fight there!" Seemingly satisfied with his idea, Hal nodded his head in approval before gathering his sketchbooks and walking off to who knows where.

Much later Jack had regained full mobility, but was still sore, both mentally and physically, from getting his butt handed to him earlier. He dragged himself over to Bunnymund who was in the process of bandaging his arm. "What did Hal mean when he said we should visit his 'realm'?"

Bunnymund gave Jack an odd look before realization dawned in his eyes. "Oh, I keep forgetting you're new at this, mate. Each guardian has a realm. Tooth has her palace, North has his workshop, Sandy has his dream cloud and I have the Warren."

"I don't have a realm!" Jack protested.

"Sure you do, mate. That ice pond you hang out at. Basically the one place you spend the most time at is your 'realm' so to speak." Bunnymund nearly started laughing when he saw how disappointed Jack was that his realm was a frozen lake.

Jack shook off his depression after a minute. "So where's Hal's realm?" he asked the rabbit.

Bunnymund sighed and tied off the bandage. "He likes to hang out in a place called Reaper's Alley. I really don't want to go there again…"

**A/N: Wow...another chapter already... Hooray for break! Well, this is really one of my favorite fanfictions I'm writing because I might kind of have an obsession with Jack Frost. Maybe. No, I'm perfectly sane, why do you ask? I've only seen the movie like 5 times... hahaha...**

**Anyways, Please review! That would be totally awesome! :D**


	3. Chapter 3: Thanks for the memories

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, but I do own my OCs**

**A/N: Usually I do an author note at the end of the story, but I have a short thing to say here this time. In this chapter there is character death and violence. It's going to talk a little about slavery, and my intention is not to offend anyone so I'm sorry if I wrote anything that offends you. Please enjoy!**

Chapter 3: Thanks for the memories

~~~~~With Tooth, North and Sandy~~~~~

"You are sure he's here, right Tooth?" North questioned the fairy.

"According to the tracking device, he's close by… everyone stay on guard," she replied, putting the tracker away. Sandy glanced around the quiet town. It was the middle of the night in England and all of the humans had gone to bed. He was quite sure of this as he watched his dream sand spiral through the windows of the houses and bring good dreams to the inhabitants.

North leaned on his swords, eyes roving the cobblestone roads. Suddenly, he saw a dark figure fly towards and alleyway. "Follow it!" North roared, charging after the shape. Sandy and Tooth snapped out of their shock and followed the Russian.

When they got to the alley, the figure was nowhere to be seen. The Guardians searched high and low, to no avail. Their search was interrupted by an evil cackling that seemed to resonate from the brick walls and the very ground itself.

"Oh, so the Guardians are here?" the voice chuckled gleefully. "Well isn't that just splendid?~ We haven't talked in so long~ Let's all go to my realm for some tea~" was the last thing the Guardians heard before they were seemingly swallowed up by darkness.

~~~~~With Bunnymund and Jack~~~~~

"So where is this Reaper Alley?" Jack questioned as he leaned on his staff and froze the local's park fountain out of sheer boredom.

Bunnymund finished tying the last bandage and stood up, trying to get some feeling back into his legs. "Well, mate, the last time the Guardians visited Hal's realm was Halloween of '53. Forgive me if my memories of the exact location are rusty."

Jack rolled his eyes and blew strands of pure white hair out of his face. "Well, it'd have to be somewhere really creepy, right? I mean he is the spirit of Halloween."

"If I remember correctly, it was somewhere else in America…"

"Oh, well that narrows it down," Jack snorted sarcastically.

"Shove off!" he growled at the smirking ice spirit. Then he muttered to himself, "It was…Kansas? No… somewhere where he could wear a costume all year and it wasn't too out of place… hm… Oh, that's right!" Bunnymund turned back to Jack. "His realm was in California. He was always interested in movies…"

"Ugh, that place is too warm. Why couldn't he have his realm in Canada or something?"

"Suck it up, you'll live," the rabbit snorted, rolling his eyes. He tapped his foot twice on the ground, and when a tunnel opened he grabbed Jack by the back of his hoodie and dropped him in before jumping after him.

Jack popped out in the middle of a busy boardwalk near the ocean, gracelessly flopping on his back, before Bunnymund hopped out and snickered at him. Jack glared daggers at the rabbit who only seemed to grow more smug.

"Warn me next time before you do that!" Jack snapped, trying to mask his hurt pride.

"I will most certainly warn you next time, drama queen."

"Stupid kangaroo."

"Troublemaking brat."

Jack rolled his eyes and looked around. "Anyways, this place doesn't look like he would be here. It's just too…lively," Jack remarked, glancing at the busy boardwalk. All he could see were families relaxing on the beach off to his right and various shops and hotels to his left.

"That's because it's not night yet, mate. The real Reaper's Alley will be apparent later."

"So we have to wait a whole day?" Jack whined.

"Yup," Bunnymund said, sitting down heavily on the sand. "I suggest you get comfortable."

"How do you suppose an ICE SPIRIT on a BEACH gets comfortable?" Jack nearly yelled. He made an exasperated noise as his only response was a halfhearted shrug that said, 'Not my problem.'

~~~~~5 hours later~~~~~

"I think I'm dead. Scratch that. I think I WANT to be dead." Jack groaned, exhausted from having to stay in a warm temperature for so long.

"Quit bellyaching," Bunnymund said, finally rising to his feet and vainly attempting to get the sand out of his fur. "The sun's gone down and we can finally go to his realm."

Jack sat up and looked around. The beach was clean of tourists. Bunnymund turned to face the shops and Jack warily followed him. The rabbit casually strolled to a narrow space in between two stores that Jack wouldn't fit through, much less Bunnymund.

"You're insane," Jack stated, staring at the space. "There's no way anything's back there."

"Be quiet for a minute," Bunnymund growled, causing Jack to roll his eyes for the umpteenth time that day and make a show out of zipping his lips. "Advil," the bunny stated. "I'm going to need Advil." He turned back to the narrow alley. "There was some kind of password…" he muttered to himself. "Was it 'Halloween'?"

Jack shook his head. "I don't think so. He hated his last name, so I doubt he would make anything resembling it the password…" Jack thought hard. "What about… October 31?"

Suddenly, the alleyway seemed to expand until a swirling black vortex appeared in between the stores. Jack smirked triumphantly while the Easter bunny muttered about it being a lucky guess. The two Guardians stepped through the ominous portal which immediately disappeared after they entered.

~~~~~Reaper's alley~~~~~

"Well, at least it's colder in here," Jack observed, glancing around the realm.

"Fantastic," Bunnymund grumbled, getting his boomerangs out while warily surveying the area. "This place is creepier than I remember."

Indeed, it was an unnerving place. The place looked like a ghost town, complete with abandoned, rickety old houses. All around, even in the streets, headstones jutted out at odd angles and a murky fog hugged the ground so they could barely see where they were walking. Gnarled trees were placed on the edges of the sidewalks and occasionally a loud scream straight out of a horror movie would split the air causing the Guardians to flinch. Jack swore he saw a pair of beady red eyes staring at them from one of the houses.

The guardians continued to follow the stone streets, Bunnymund nearly faceplanted when he tripped on a large iron cross, until they reached what appeared to be the ghost town's version of a city hall. They strode into the large empty building and glanced around nervously.

"Oh, I thought you guys wouldn't make it!" a voice yelled through the darkness. Both Guardians whirled toward the source of the voice, weapons raised. "Woah! Chill, guys! 'S just me!" the figure stepped forward and Jack saw that it was Hal, and this time he was wearing a ski hat and goggles that covered the majority of the top half of his face while a scarf obscured his mouth.

"You!" Bunnymund snarled. "Alright, we visited your creepy realm. Now give us the memories."

Hal sighed. "You're still on about that, man? The answer's still no. Why do you even want these memories? They only belong to me. It's not like I stole all of them like Pitch." Hal proceeded to pull out a golden tube and throw it up into the air before catching it. "You know," Hal mused. "If you really care about the memories that much, I'll let you see them."

Hal tapped the golden tube before tossing it to Jack and Bunnymund who were enveloped in a flash of bright light.

~~~~~Flashback (A/N: warning: character death and mild violence incoming.)~~~~~

_Hal leaned back on his shovel as he glared at the rocky ground in front of him. He glanced both left and right to see fellow slaves hard at work in the field, rooting up various vegetables for the masters._

_"Who said you could take a break?" a rough voice yelled behind Hal, making him flinch. "Back to work!"_

_"Yes, sir," Hal muttered, plunging his shovel back into the ground._

_At the end of the day, Hal was hot, sweaty and aching all over. He was about to retire to the slave's quarters when one of the guards waved him aside._

_"Hal."_

_"Yes, sir?"_

_The guard motioned to the kid, who couldn't have been more than 8, at his side who stepped forward, trembling. "The master just bought this kid today off the market. You have to look after him and teach him the ropes now. If the kid falls behind on work or causes any trouble it's on YOUR HEAD. We clear?"_

_"Yes sir," Hal said, continuing to stare at the ground._

_"Good," the guard growled, shoving the kid forward._

_Hal stooped down to look the kid square in the eyes before grabbing his hand and leading him back to their quarters. Since there wasn't enough room in the slave's barracks, Hal was forced to share a bed with the kid. _

_He looked the kid in the eyes once again. "You got a name?"_

_"No, sir," the kid said. "I ain't got no mother, so I ain't got no name."_

_"I see," Hal said. "Well… how about Ben? You can have my last name too. It's Owen." The kid's eyes sparkled like he'd just gotten an invaluable gift._

_"You got two names, mister?"_

_"Kinda. I got a last name. Most of the masters got two names too, so I gave myself one. Don't tell anyone though," Hal whispered conspiratorially while the newly named Ben nodded. And, just like that, a secret was born between them._

_~~~~~Flash forward 1 week~~~~~_

_Ben shot awake, gasping and drenched in his sweat. He looked around to see he was still in the servant's quarters with Hal asleep beside him. Hal rolled over before seeing that Ben looked absolutely terrified._

_"What's wrong, man?" _

_"G-guys… with guns. They took my mom…" he seemed to curl up into a ball, sobbing to hard to explain further._

_Hal was at a loss, until he suddenly had an idea. "Hey, kid." He whispered to the boy next to him, causing Ben to lift his head. "Have I ever told you about the bird that made the stars?" Hal didn't even know what he was saying anymore, just spouting nonsense so the kid would stop crying._

_To his relief, the kid shook his head and waited for Hal to continue his spur of the moment story. "Well, once there was a bird that was so big and flashy he showed off all the time. He thought he was such hot stuff. All the other birds were tired of his bragging, so one day they decided to exile him from their forest._

_However, though he wasn't their problem, he started bothering a local tribe. The people heard him every morning, squawking his songs and showing off. They called the local witch doctor who said she would exile him to the heavens, so they could never hear him again. And she did just that._

_The bird was trapped in the heavens with no one to show off to. The villagers and bird below him never heard him singing. He got so mad, he decided he would show them, even if they couldn't hear him. He took all of his feathers and spread them all around the earth, so they glittered over the people when they slept. That's why there are so many stars in the sky."_

_Ben looked up at Hal, eyes shining. "Really?"_

_"Yup!" Hal said, sweating bullets and hoping that his totally made up story sufficed._

_"That's so cool!" Hal breathed a sigh of relief._

_The next night, Ben asked for another story. And the night after that. And after that. Soon, Hal was making up a story each night that would fill Ben's dreams with brave heroes that defeated bearlike monsters and magicians that turned rocks into fantastic creatures. _

_~~~~~1 year later~~~~~_

_"Who stole the mistress' bracelet?!" one of the guards roared. Ben trembled under a wooden table in the slave's dining room, bracelet clutched tightly in his hand. He had been walking around outside the previous evening to see if he could find some berries to share with Hal. He had spied the glittering bracelet lying innocently on the ground near the pile of firewood the slaves had._

_Hal poked his head under the table to see Ben, crying heavily but silently, the silver bracelet in his fist. Hal looked at the guard, who was on the verge of turning purple, and back at Ben who was terrified out of his mind. Hal made a split second decision, yanking the bracelet out of Ben's hand before standing up and turning to the guard._

_"Here's the bracelet, sir," Hal said, he voice betraying no emotion. Ben clutched at his shirt, eyes wide with fear._

_"They'll whip you!" he hissed._

_"Better than you," Hal muttered as he was led away. An hour later, he returned to the slave's quarters and promptly passed out on his and Ben's bed. When the other slaves tried to help Hal tore up cloth to make bandages, the pulled up his shirt and revealed ugly open wounds that crisscrossed his back._

_~~~~~1 month later~~~~~_

_"Today's the day, Ben!" Hal said cheerily. The wounds on his back had closed and left scars. "We're finally gonna be free!" he said in a hushed voice so the guards wouldn't hear. Ben smiled at his side and continued to uproot plants. "You remember the plan?" he asked._

_"At lights out, slip out the window and dash for the woods. When we get there, jump in the creek to wash our scent and continue North. The master and mistress are hosting a party tonight in the manor, so the guards will probably be drunk and if we're really quiet, they won't even notice we're missing."_

_Hal smiled and ruffled the kid's hair. "That's right."_

_~~~~~Later that night~~~~~_

_"Okay, here we go," Hal whispered, grabbing Ben's hand as they ran towards the woods. "So far, so good…"_

_Suddenly, they heard the baying of hounds behind them. "Impossible," Hal muttered. He turned to Ben. "What are you waiting for?! An invitation?! We gotta run!" he yanked Ben along as they splashed into the creek. By now, Hal could see the hounds getting closer along with men who were carrying guns. _

_He gripped Ben by the shoulders. "Listen to me. You are going to scramble up that slope and you're not going to get caught." Ben shook his head, tears beginning to pour down his cheeks._

_"I can't just leave you-"_

_"Yes, you can. And you will. I'll will kick your butt myself if you don't start running RIGHT NOW." The dogs howled, nearly within view. "No time…" he muttered. He shoved Ben and practically threw him up the slope._

_"Hal!"_

_"Run! Something like this ain't gonna kill me. Now, listen! Follow the brightest bird feather you see!" Hal yelled, recalling the first story he'd ever told the boy. "That feather will lead you North." Hal then turned and ran the opposite direction of Ben._

_He wasn't running too fast as the wet clothes weighed him down. Eventually the dogs caught up to him, but he could barely feel them biting at his legs. A blow on the back of the head knocked him to the ground, dazed. Dark figures swam in his line of vision and he could only hear parts of their conversations._

_"Don't like the look of this one," one of the figures said. "He ran once, he'll run again."_

_'Don't let me die here…' Hal thought feverishly. 'I have so many stories left for Ben…' Hal felt the cold metal of a gun barrel being pressed to the center of his forehead. He looked straight up to see a huge glowing moon directly overhead._

_'Was the moon always that big?' he wondered._

_BANG!_

~~~~~Flashback/violent scene over~~~~~

Jack and Bunnymund gasped, suddenly brought back to reality. Hal yanked the tube out of their hands, not that they fought him off. They were too shocked by the memories.

"He made it," Hal said, drawing their attention. "All the way North. Started a family. Had a job. I'm proud of him." The Halloween spirit then leveled his gaze directly at the Guardians. "I know that Tooth keeps these memories for a reason, but no one besides me needs to remember that."

Hal dropped the golden tube in his backpack while Bunnymund and Jack continued to stare at him, at a loss for words. "Y'all don't need to be here anymore," Hal stated. He snapped his fingers, and suddenly all three were outside the city hall and where Jack and Bunnymund had first entered the realm.

"I think I'll change the password," Hal mused. He was about ready to shove them out of his realm when he froze, struck by an idea. "You know, you should have a chat with the April Fool. He's got your friends hostage after all."

Jack managed to find his voice. "What do you mean, hostage?"

"That's for me to know, and you to find out," Hal stated. He snapped his fingers and Bunnymund and Jack were back out in front of the two stores with the alley much too small for either to squeeze through.

"I'd suggest England," Hal's voice was faintly heard. Bunnymund and Jack exchanged glances, both not sure they wanted to discuss the memories they had seen.

**A/N: *dodges brick* Whew, long chapter... anywho, I'm really sorry, I didn't want to make it all sad, but I wanted to show Hal's backstory and how/why he became a Guardian/the spirit of Halloween. Please don't be mad. I said earlier that my intention is not to offend anyone, so if you didn't like how I wrote the flashback, I apologize. **

**Anyways, I tried to do a cliffhanger, but kinda failed cuz I got so caught up in the flash back. yeah... hahaha...**

**Oh, and in response to an ealier comment, I'm sorry that I made the characters kind of OOC in the last chapter (I hope I did better in this one) but it was kind of my opinion that if there weren't any kids around, Jack might let a few swears slip, but that might not be right. I'm sorry if you were offended... *sweatdrops* I realize I made them OOC... I really did try harder on this chapter.**

**So, without making you read any more of my lame excuses/apologies, PLEASE REVIEW! Please? With snowflakes and Easter eggs on top?**


	4. Chapter 4: Tea Time

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians**

Chapter 4: Tea Time

Jack shifted awkwardly as he and Bunnymund stood outside the alley. He sighed and leaned against his staff for support as his head tried to sort through all the memories that had suddenly been dumped on him. Choosing to dwell on them later, he turned to the rabbit next to him.

"So what do we do now?" he asked, trying to put life into his voice, though his words fell flat in the dead silence. Bunnymund seemed to shake off whatever past experiences he was reliving and turned to face the ice spirit.

"Guess we go to England," he said with a shrug. The rabbit tapped his foot on the ground twice and opened up his tunnel system before grabbing Jack's hoodie and dragging him through it.

"What about Hal?" Jack asked as they whizzed through the mossy tunnels.

"What about him?" Bunnymund replied.

"He still has the memories!"

"Once we rescue the others, we can confront that sorry excuse for a Guardian." Soon after their short exchange, they popped out of the tunnels in the middle of an alley. Jack looked around to see the brick walls and groaned.

"I'm sick of alleys," he muttered under his breath.

Bunnymund snorted. "If you want to pop out in the middle of a busy street, be my guest."

Jack decided not to respond to that and instead stepped out of the alley to glance around. "So where are we even looking?" he asked, watching the London Eye spin around slowly.

"Heck if I know, mate." Bunnymund shrugged. "The tracking device we have is for Hal and he's probably still in Reaper's alley. My guess is the April Fool is hanging out in his realm as well."

Jack grabbed his staff excitedly. "Well, then we can just go to his realm then, right?"

"Hold on, mate," Bunnymund said, grabbing Jack by the back of his hoodie before he could fly off. "The April Fool is kind of like Hal. His realm exists in kind of a pocket dimension, separate from this world. You can't enter unless you're invited or, in Hal's case, unless you know the password."

Jack rolled his eyes and blew a stray strand of white hair out of his face. "Well what now? Walk around until we fall into another dimension?" He saw a sheepish look on the rabbit's face. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," he muttered. "That was seriously what we're going to do?!"

"Well, unless you have a better idea," Bunnymund growled.

"Maybe we can reason this out…" Jack said. "I was thinking-"

"You deserve an award," the rabbit muttered, cutting him off. Jack shot him a glare.

"Like I was saying, I was thinking that since Hal's realm showed up in a place that reflected his personality, wouldn't the April Fool's be the same?"

"There's only one flaw with your plan, mate. None of the Guardians know what his realm looks like, as he never invited us there when he was a Guardian. The only information we got out of him about his realm is that he said it was always moving," Bunnymund stated.

"Always moving?" Jack asked, confused. "Is that even possible?"

The Easter Bunny shrugged. "I don't know, mate. The Fool was always a little off in the head."

~~~~~Five hours later~~~~~

"Are we lost?" Jack asked gazing around to see nondescript buildings and streets.

"I know exactly where we are," Bunnymund replied, sniffing the air.

"So… we're lost."

"…" Jack took the rabbit's lack of reply as an affirmation of his suspicions. He ran a hand through his hair.

"What if Hal was just messing with us and the others are on the other side of the world?" Jack questioned.

"I don't know," Bunnymund answered sheepishly. Jack sighed in defeat and leaned against a building while tightly gripping his staff. Bunnymund hopped down the street to look into yet another alley and Jack shook his head before turning his gaze towards the sky.

"We are never going to find this place," he muttered under his breath as gray clouds floated across his field of vision. Suddenly, he saw a bright red speck in the sky, clearly standing out against the gray background. Jack squinted and saw that the object was getting larger and closer. He glanced away from the mysterious object to try and get the Easter Bunny's attention.

"Yo, Bunny!" he called to the rabbit, who took no notice of him. The object was getting larger at an alarming rate. "Bunny!" Jack yelled, waving his arms, to no avail. By now, the object was about 20 seconds away. Jack rolled his eyes and decided to pull out all the stops. "YO! KANGAROO!"

That got his attention. Bunnymund whirled around, anger clearly visible on his features, just in time to see the object land about 10 feet away from where Jack was standing, crashing through the pavement and creating a good sized crater. Bunnymund was over there in one bound and whipped out his boomerangs. "What the devil is that?" he asked, pointing at the large red object lying in the rubble.

"I don't know," Jack responded, leveling his staff in the object's direction. The two approached the object slowly and finally they were close enough to see it was a large red metal orb, smoking slightly from impact. Jack glanced at the rabbit to his left. "5 bucks says something nasty happens in the next 10 minutes."

"I agree with you there," Bunnymund replied.

"Should we touch it?"

"I don't-" was all the Easter Bunny managed to say before the orb split apart down the middle like a giant fortune cookie. It spewed a nasty smoke that smelled like rotten eggs. "Crikey," Bunnymund gagged, eyes watering. "Who the devil would do that?" He clutched at his sensitive nose.

"I'd hate to have your sense of smell right now," Jack muttered, pinching his own nose shut. One hand over his nose and mouth, Jack poked at the orb with his staff which caused a small envelope to fall out. Jack exchanged a look with Bunnymund before cautiously picking up the envelope and opening it.

He read aloud, "_Mr. Frost and Mr. Bunnymund are cordially invited to the realm of the April Fool today at 2 o'clock this afternoon. Refreshments will be provided, courtesy of the kind employees of Hatter Mansion. This is a casual affair, so please come as you are. I hope you will choose to partake in the games after tea is served. Your friend, the April Fool."_ Jack looked up from the card and its curling script to see Bunnymund still covering his nose to ward off the nasty smell.

"What time is it?" Jack asked the rabbit.

"How should I know? I don't have a watch," Bunnymund grumbled.

"You see? This is why we need to know where we are. Never mind, I have an idea." Jack called on his winds to lift him up high enough so he could look out all over London. "Bingo," he smirked with satisfaction and flew towards Big Ben. "Okay," he muttered to himself. "Looks like it's 1:50…" he flew back to where Bunnymund was still standing, only to see the rabbit had scampered on top of a dumpster while three dogs bared their teeth at him and attempted to climb on as well.

"Scram, stupid mutts!" Bunnymund growled, trying to avoid their snapping jaws. Jack landed on the fire escape in the alley and started laughing so hard, tears appeared in his eyed. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, bloody wanker," the rabbit growled, using his boomerang to shove away a dog. Unexpectedly, all three dogs stopped growling at the rabbit. Soon after, they tucked their tails between their legs and whimpered before running off. "And don't come back!" the Easter Bunny yelled after them, sheathing his boomerangs as he got off the dumpster.

"Er, I don't think they're running from you," Jack said, pointing behind Bunnymund.

"What do you-?" Bunnymund turned around. "Oh." A huge red swirling vortex had appeared behind him on the wall of the alley. "If the Fool thinks I'm going near that, he's got another thing coming," the rabbit growled, ready to hop away should a threat present itself.

The swirling red vortex suddenly turned an ominous shade of black and acted like a vacuum, sucking both Jack and Bunnymund towards it. Bunnymund tried to open his tunnels as and escape route and Jack tried to use his winds, but neither attempt worked. Both were slowly drawn closer to it and eventually pulled through.

~~~~~?~~~~~

Jack sat up and rubbed his head. "Why do I always seem to hit my head?" he muttered. Bunnymund sat up next to him and looked around at their location.

"Uh, mate? Are you seeing this, or am I in some kind of messed up dream?" Jack finally focused on something other than the impending headache to spare the new scenery a glance.

"What the-?" Jack started, totally forgetting the pain in his head. The had fallen into some kind of mad Wonderland. In fact, Wonderland is the perfect place to compare this to. There was a narrow path from where they were currently sitting made from checkerboard black and white tiles. Lush green grass grew on the edges of the path and was dotted with colorful flowers. Every now and then, a twisted looking purple tree with pink leaves would be on the side of the path. The sky was a sunset pink with blue swirls of clouds racing across it.

"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," Jack stated dryly, taking in the landscape.

"Well, what do you suggest we do now, mate?" Bunnymund asked, getting over his awe of the place.

"Isn't it obvious?" Jack asked, retrieving his staff and getting to his feet. He pointed to the black and white tiles. "We follow the yellow brick road. Er, black and white tile road in this case." Bunnymund shrugged, having no better plans, and began loping off along the path with Jack right behind him.

Along the way, they passed forests with eerie bird calls and shrieking laughter emanating from them. They crossed bridges over orange streams, whose color clashed horribly with the grass. They walked for what seemed like hours, the path becoming more dirty and scuffed as they walked further along it. Finally they arrived at what appeared to be a giant golden bird cage.

Jack got closer and his eyes soon widened in recognition. "Those are the others!" he cried, darting over to the cage to peer through the bars. Sure enough, North, Tooth and Sandy were all sitting down in the middle.

"Jack!" North yelled, scrambling over to the bars. "You have to leave-!"

"Well, that's pretty ungrateful," Bunnymund strolled up to the bars. "After we came all this way to save you." He pretended to be offended.

"You don't understand-!" North began, only to be cut off by Tooth.

"We're bait, Jack!" Tooth said.

Sandy was apparently having an intense conversation with Bunnymund, sandy pictures of a jester's cap and handcuffs appeared over his head as he attempted to explain the situation. He then pantomimed that the Fool had captured them to lure out any other Guardians.

"I get it, mate" Bunnymund reassured him. He turned back to the ice spirit. "We need to blow this joint as soon as possible!"

"Oh, that's not very nice~" a sing song voice behind them said. Jack and Bunnymund whirled around to locate the source of the new voice. What they found was a table laden with tea and various cakes and it had a couple of white chairs around it. This wouldn't have been extremely odd, had the table not been floating about three feet off the ground.

At the head of the table sat a man in a full jester's costume. He hummed to himself as he buttered a roll. He sighed as he put the knife down and took a sizeable bite out of the bread, smiling in satisfaction.

"I went through all the trouble of sending an invitation~" he pouted.

"It smelled terrible," Bunnymund growled.

"Really?" the jester's eyes lit up. "I'm so glad! I didn't know how much gas to put in, so I just put in a canister full~"

"Nevermind that," Jack said. "We just want our friends and the memories. Let them go," he said commandingly.

The Fool waved off his comment, a look of boredom on his face. "I'd rather not talk about business right now. So dreadful." He took another bite out of his roll. "Perhaps you would like some tea or a pastry instead? Alice makes the most wonderful scones~" the Fool smiled.

"Oh, but where are my manners?~" he looked shocked at his supposed lack of hospitality. "My name is the April Fool and this is my realm." The April Fool's face seemed to darken sending shivers down all the Guardian's spines. His smile grew wider, if that was possible, revealing rows of white teeth with sharp canines. "Welcome to the Mad Tea Party. Stay a while, won't you?~"

**A/N: Ta-da! And that's the April Fool! So I hope y'all have had a good New Year and break or whatever. I've been surprisingly busy lately... *shrugs* Oh, right. Quick side note. I'm not gonna be able to update for a few weeks (sorry about that) but hopefully I'll be able to update fairly regularly otherwise.**

**Anyways, please review! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed/followed/favorited. Y'all get the stamp of awesomeness! :D**


	5. Chapter 5: Sea, Sun and Griffins

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, but I guess I do own my OCs**

Chapter 5: Sand, Sun and Screeching Griffins

Despite the creepy vibes the Fool was sending off, the Guardians managed to stand their ground. Jack gritted his teeth. "Stop messing around," he said harshly. "You can either release our friends or-"

"Or what?" the Fool cut him off, still smiling. "You're in my realm and you would do well to mind your manners here."

"What nonsense are you spouting?" Bunnymund snorted. "I don't think I've ever seen you fight. There's no way you would be able to beat us, even if you wanted to."

The April Fool sighed dramatically. "You're right, I do detest pointless fighting." He leaned back in his chair while pretending to think. His expression suddenly cleared. "Oh, but I do love games!~"

"We don't have time for this," Jack said, growing more irritated by the second.

The jester wagged his finger annoyingly in Jack's direction. "Now, now. There's always time for games." He clapped his hands and the table laden with sweets and chairs all disappeared while the Fool floated gently to the ground in front of the two guardians. "I had so many party games planned, but it seems that you both only have enough patience for one of them~ Such a shame…" The man twirled around and began to walk away from the duo.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jack challenged, shooting a jet of ice at him. Just as the ice was about to hit the Fool, the jester vanished.

"Attacking the host? Weren't you ever taught your manners?~" The Fool's voice echoed all around Jack and Bunnymund.

"Coward!" Bunnymund yelled, whipping out his boomerangs. The jester's laugh resounded through the air.

"As much fun as I've been having with you, we simply haven't the time for more delays. I propose a game of hide and seek~ I hide your friends, and you seek! Simple, no? The game is won when your friends are found. Ready? Begin!" The mad Wonderland blurred and the Guardians were dumped back in the alley that they had first entered the Fool's realm from.

~~~~~2 hours later~~~~~

"We've been all over London and we still haven't found them!" Jack ranted as they were led to another dead end. "For all we know, he kept them in his realm and is laughing at us as we search!"

"While I don't doubt that he's laughing at us," Bunnymund began. "I don't think he would cheat at his own game." The rabbit loped towards the frustrated ice spirit. "I'm sure he hid them somewhere, we just aren't looking in the right places. He did say it was 'hide and seek' after all."

Jack frowned. "Maybe he hid them in a place we wouldn't ever think of looking?"

"I'm not so sure about that, mate," the rabbit replied. "He would get bored if we never found them, right?"

The ice spirit sighed as he realized the Easter bunny had a point. "Well I don't have any other ideas of where to look."

"If I were an insane jester, where would I hide a Russian sword wielding maniac, a feathery fairy and a man made out of sand?" Bunnymund wondered outloud.

"I got it!" Jack said suddenly. "He hid them in places where it would be hard for us to find them, but would still make sense!"

"And those places would be…?"

"Well, we're going to have to go to a beach again…"

~~~~~A Beach in Florida~~~~~

"I don't know, mate," Bunnymund said, shaking sand from his fur. "I think it's a bit of a stretch to be looking for Sandy here."

"Unless you have any other ideas," Jack said, scanning the beach yet again for any sign of the dream giver. "Believe me; I'm not enjoying it either." He glared at the sun as it beat down on him unmercifully.

"So our friends are missing all over the world most likely and we're just going to keep combing this endless beach until- ooph!" The last part was mainly due to Bunnymund tripping over a huge red and green box sticking out of the sand.

Jack stared at the box curiously as the people milling around the beach were acting like it wasn't there. "How do they not notice this?" he asked, reaching for the attention grabbing cube.

"Most likely it's prime Guardian material," Bunnymund grumbled, getting to his feet. "If it belongs to one of us Guardians, humans either won't see it or they'll just write it off as a strange occurrence. You know how sometimes humans seem to trip on thin air? It's usually because some holiday spirit is too lazy to clean up after themself. Leprechauns are notoriously bad about that."

Jack cautiously approached the cube as if he was expecting it to explode. Heck, knowing the April Fool it probably would explode with a huge bang and shower of confetti. He carefully prodded the box with his staff and jumped backwards reflexively when the top opened automatically.

"Testing, testing~ Is this thing on?" the Fool's voice rang out from the box. "Ahem. Well, congratulations on making it this far!~ I didn't think you would figure it out this fast! As you may have guessed, your friend Sandy is here, but to get him back, you're going to have to play another game~ A game within a game, if you will." Jack gritted his teeth. He'd had enough of this nonsense. The voice continued, "In order to get your dear, silent friend back, you'll have to beat a creature I've enclosed in this box~ I've called in a favor to have it ordered~ Until next time Guardians. Ta!" the voice cut out.

"Creature?" Bunnymund asked, hands creeping towards boomerangs. "I don't like the sound of that." Jack silently agreed. The box then shot out a piece of paper that floated down towards Jack. The ice spirit caught it warily.

_Sorry, Jack. And the huge rabbit dude too. I really didn't want to do this, but the Fool helped me out before and I owe him. I hope y'all live._

_-Hal_

Jack felt a cold sweat break out on the back of his neck as he flipped the piece of paper over. On the back, he discovered a detailed drawing of a screeching griffin, claws extended and wings unfurled. Beneath the drawing was one word in Hal's handwriting underlined many times.

_RUN_

Jack instantly dropped the paper and started dragging Bunnymund backwards just as an unearthly screech split the air. Jack dropped to the ground and slapped his hands over his ears to try and muffle the sounds from the newly created griffin. The rabbit had it worse as he looked like he wanted to cut his own extremely sensitive ears off.

"What in blazes is that?!" Bunnymund yelled, ears ringing. The duo was forced to hit the ground as the griffin just barely missed raking their heads with its deadly claws. It let out another piercing cry before circling around for another strike.

Bunnymund fired one of his boomerangs at it, causing the creature to swerve at the last moment. "This is insane! I can't keep this up forever!" Bunnymund cried as jack attempted to hit it with ice blasts. The thing was just too fast for him.

Jack's mind raced as the beast kept coming back for more attacks, seemingly impervious to their best efforts to wound the creature. 'Hal,' Jack thought feverishly as he attempted to swipe at the griffin yet again. 'If I live, I swear I will kick your butt into next week for this.'

The battle seemed to last for hours, but it was probably only a few minutes. Jack and Bunnymund couldn't hold out much longer and both were breathing heavily.

"Does this thing have ANY weak points?!" Bunnymund growled in frustration as he fired his boomerang at it for the umpteenth time.

Jack stared at the seemingly unstoppable beast. He examined the griffin closely as it screeched over his head yet again. Then he noticed something very interesting about the creature. "Its wings!" he wildly pointed at the creature's large brown wings. "It always tucks its wings in before diving at us to protect them!"

"Well, that simplifies things," Bunnymund smirked as he threw both of his boomerangs. They sailed a good foot above the griffin's head.

"Where were you aiming?!" Jack asked in disbelief. "The ocean?"

"Wait for it…" The griffin suddenly screeched in pain as the boomerangs arced backwards and hit both of its wings. The wings folded immediately and the creature was sent plummeting to the ground. Bunnymund smirked as he caught his boomerangs an instant later. "Piece of cake."

Jack rolled his eyes at the rabbit's boasting to cautiously approach the griffin. The creature gave one last pitiful shriek before it turned back into a piece of paper. The paper fluttered and Hal's words on the front seemed to be shifting around and rewriting themselves.

_If you're reading this, the griffin is gone. Good job. Honestly, I'm shocked because that was one of my masterpieces. Listen, both of you Guardians. I'm not the only holiday spirit the April Fool has recruited to hassle you. Watch your backs. Especially for any arrows. Since my part is now done, you can have your friend. Good luck._

_-Hal_

Jack flipped the paper back over to see that the image of the griffin had disappeared and was new lines were forming an image. Jack squinted as the image squirmed into a distinct humanoid figure with spiky hair and-…

"Sandy!" Bunnymund exclaimed, watching the picture of the other Guardian become reality. In a matter of seconds, the silent dream weaver was hovering next to the other Guardians, a radiant smile upon his face. Jack smiled back in relief.

"We thought we'd lost you forever!" he said. Sandy just smiled back easily in response.

"Good to see you, mate," Bunnymund added. "But now I'm curious… what did Hal mean when he said we should watch our back for arrows?" Jack tilted his head in confusion. That was truly baffling. He turned to the Sandman.

"Any ideas?" he asked. Sandy looked uncomfortable, as if he had an idea but didn't want to say it. "It's okay," Jack said. "It can't be any more ridiculous than the situation we're in."

Sandy paused before a sandy image of a heart appeared above his head. Bunnymund stiffened at that. "You don't mean that narcissist, Cupid, is involved…do you?" He asked in a way that was almost a plea. The Sandman only nodded in response. Bunnymund groaned. "Just what we need… A deadly archer who's in love with his looks."

**A/N: Hey y'all! *dodges rotten produce* It's been a while, huh? Yeah, I know... but I've been pretty busy lately... I have too many unfinished fanfics and *gives a long list of excuses that no one is interested in* and to sum it up, that's why my update was really late. Thanks for understanding.**

**So, yeah I was kinda at a loss. I was like, 'Where can I put Sandy? The beach! Cuz it's got sand!' ...I wrote this pretty late at night. Please excuse any of my bad humor.**

**Please review and tell me what you like/hate/have recommendations for! Constructive criticism is appreciated, but please no outright flaming! Thank you! :D**


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